Correspondence Chess Tournament

[Neil Graham]

A member of my club is an avid correspondence chess player who is a Correspondence Chess Master.

He is at the moment playing a game with a Polish priest who has sent the following:-

.The Polish Chess Federation organizes an annual correspondence chess tournament exclusively for religious figures (priests, pastors, deacons, rabbis, monks, nuns, etc.). I participate every year. Do you know anyone in this category who might be interested in this tournament?

I have located the entry details here https://www.iccf.com/message?message=1761

If anyone on the forum knows of players who fit the criteria perhaps they can forward these details to them!

[IM Jack Rudd]

FM Nathan Alfred certainly fits the bill, although I don't have contact details for him.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Luckily, I'm not eligible, as I would not play another tournament organized by the person who is organizing the event in question...

[Tim Spanton]

Luckily, I'm not eligible, as I would not play another tournament organized by the person who is organizing the event in question...

That statement prompts more questions than it answers ...

[Kevin Thurlow]

Well, as you asked... I played an international event, where there were several more players than advertised, which is a bit annoying as you like to know how many games you have. One player grumbled and the TD said, "Why not withdraw?", which he could, but then you get an automatic ban from CC. In the tournament, you were allowed one draw offer per 10 moves. In CC (Tim will know this), you press the "offer draw" button and it warns you that if you offer a draw and it's rejected, it is forbidden to offer another one in that game until 10 more moves have elapsed. On move 19, an opponent offered a draw, which I declined. He responded by using the "chat" function to offer another draw a couple of moves later. I complained to the TD, and he wasn't interested. Next move, another draw offer. I claimed the game. Several days went by, whilst my time ticked down, and the TD informed me that the second and third draw offers were contrary to the rules, therefore they didn't count(!). And he was sure I would understand this was the correct decision. He had disabled the chat for that game, play on... I told him he was wrong, and tried to finish all the other games as quickly as possible, before he cheated me again.
The opponent offered draws legally on move 29, 39 and 49, all of which I declined, then I offered one on move 50.

So I don't have a great deal of confidence in that TD...

[Peter Ackley]

I played a CC event a year or so ago. From one opponent I got a draw offer on:
-move 4
-somewhere between moves 14 and 17
-move 27
I didn't know them (ie friendly draw) and there was no incentive in the event for a quick draw (for example a low norm score, desirable team result, player outgraded me...). Also the position, whilst equal, was easier to play for my side.

After the third draw offer I let my opponent know that I was not interested and that if they were not keen on playing the game there was a resign button available. Which earned me a complaint to the TD (and the game was put on mute). I later learned that I was not the only player in the event to have complained about multiple draw offers from the same player and in each instance, when told off, they had gone running to the TD who had put the games on mute. Meaning they could keep offering draws and no-one could say anything about it. Surely a rule change is needed where the gap between draw offers grows over time.

I'm not saying I haven't offered a quick draw in my life but if draw 1 (after, say 10 moves) is turned down there's not another offer coming for a long time from me, unless something in the position necessitates it (eg a repetition about to be completed, easily drawn endgame...). I can't remember ever offering three draws in a game.

[Roger de Coverly]

I can't remember ever offering three draws in a game.

Over the board you can complain to the arbiter about excessive draw offers. There are juniors who can be somewhat persistent in their draw offers even where their positions are demonstrably worse or plain lost. Do some coaches suggest the idea as a strategy?

[MJMcCready]

Whether they do or not doesn't detract from the point that draw offers, if well-timed, can be very perplexing and even throw the result of the game sometimes.

[Peter Ackley]

I know at least one captain in the 4NCL told their junior board to offer me a draw as I'd probably take one on the Sunday. I know this as after the third offer I went to find said captain and (guessing what he'd done) asked him if when he'd told his player to offer me a draw he'd told him to not keep doing it. The captain said he'd speak to the player.

My favourite draw offer? Years ago in a league game when games were 35 moves/1.15h plus 15mins (or something similar) my opponent made the time control with a won position but under 1min on their clock (actually 16mins - the additional time was still to add). They stopped writing down their moves and I politely (and in my own time as I had lots more) requested that they recorded their moves. I never managed to finish the sentence (which would have been explaining that they had made the time control and actually had the additional 15mins still to come, hence the requirement to write down their moves) and was accused of putting them off and told not to talk to them. So I made my move, offered a draw and started their clock. When their clock showed 13secs they accepted the draw as they "didn't have enough time to win it", which resulted in their team only drawing the match. I pointed out that they had 15.13, not 0.13, and I had been trying to tell them this. There was no complaint from the team since I had followed the opposing player's instructions to the letter and stopped speaking to them.

[MJMcCready]

My favourite draw offer occured in 1975 in my home town. When I was young, I assumed you had to play moves before making such an offer.

[Matt Mackenzie]

My favourite draw offer occured in 1975 in my home town. When I was young, I assumed you had to play moves before making such an offer.

What you did there, I saw it

[MJMcCready]

Probably the only game in chess history no one will ever make a video of.

[Jon Mahony]

At one point there used to be a Clergy CCC in the UK - I remember playing a friendly match for the BCCA against a couple of priests and a bishop by post, circa 2006 or 07. Not sure if it's still active, unfortunately CC is very much dying off - I really used to love playing postal tournaments 20 or so years ago, but its all Engines now, drains all the fun out of it completely, it's quicker to plug two laptops into one another and let them play.

Last time I dipped my toes back in the water around the pandemic, I joined the BCCA, there were practically no postal games and you were waiting 2 months for a simple pairing in a 3 man tournament (back in the early 2000's you would receive a paring notice within a week).